Leticia Martínez Hernández & Yaima Puig Meneses

May 19, with President Raúl Castro Ruz presiding, a Council of Ministers meeting was held, during which Minister of Economy and Planning Adel Yzquierdo Rodríguez explained mandates for the development of the country’s 2015 Plan, which are directed toward generating greater economic growth.

Yzquierdo, also a Council of Ministers vice president, said that although the preliminary estimates presented do not constitute the Economic Plan, they are important to its elaboration. Potential levels of performance in various sectors of the economy, as well as social services, were therefore discussed.

Important among the issues analyzed were food production; the generation of electricity, investment; commercial distribution - particularly retail sales of construction materials; and employment trends.

The Council of Ministers then approved general guidelines for the preparation of the 2016-2030 Socio-economic Development Program, which were the result of a rigorous analysis undertaken by all entities involved.

According to Marino Murillo Jorge, head of the Implementation and Development Permanent Commission and a Council of Ministers vice-president, once the program is drafted, the country will have "a vision of the future which reflects – via concrete, measurable, long-term indicators – the objectives, strategic direction, sources of financing, goals and challenges to be overcome to consolidate the construction of a prosperous, sustainable, socialist society."

He indicated that among its basic principles are "guaranteeing growth of the Gross Domestic Product to ensure the development of well-being, equity and social justice; maintaining social ownership of the fundamental means of production; achieving a socialist model of development, with efficiency in all spheres; promoting science, technology, innovation and their application; transforming the energy profile with greater emphasis on renewable resources; recovering and modernizing the country’s infrastructure; and assuring demographic sustainability.

Next, Leonardo Andollo Valdés, deputy director of the Implementation and Development Permanent Commission, presented proposals for the improvement of the Ministries of Transportation and Tourism, as part of the reorganization which is underway in Central State Administration bodies.

These proposals, he explained, are directed toward achieving greater efficiency, and separating government roles from those of enterprises, while supporting the consolidation of the state enterprise system reorganization. Also to be strengthened is the autonomy of Central Enterprise Management Organizations (OSDE).